Jose Valentin didn’t have a hand in every pivotal play down the stretch in the Mets’ 5-3, 11-inning loss to St. Louis last night. It just seemed that way.

After a defensive gaffe helped the Cardinals score a go-ahead run in the seventh inning, Valentin redeemed himself with a game-tying, RBI double in the ninth. But in the 11th, his error – his fourth in 35 games – helped the World Series champs seal it.

“It happens. He just dropped the ball. He tried to rush it and bobbled the ball,” Willie Randolph said. “Uncharacteristic defensive plays. Weird game.”

One Valentin had a huge hand in.

“We didn’t play the defense late in the game, and they took advantage of our mistakes,” said Valentin, who made two huge ones.

With the score locked at 1-1 and Aaron Heilman trying to wiggle out of a first-and-third jam with two out, Scott Spiezio hit a shot up the middle that Heilman deflected. Valentin fielded it cleanly but rushed and bobbled the exchange, dropping the ball for what was generously ruled an RBI single.

“They were plays that should be – I don’t think it was something really easy to make,” he said. “It ricocheted off the pitcher. He was coming down the line, and I tried to rush myself. I caught it but I tried to be too quick, and had some problems taking it out of my glove.”

St. Louis added another in the eighth for a 3-1 lead. Paul Lo Duca halved that with a solo homer, and Valentin tied it in the ninth. After Shawn Green drew a two-out walk, they put on a hit-and-run. Valentin fought off a 90-mph 2-1 fastball at the letters for a game-tying double to right.

But the Cards won it with two runs in the 11th. The first came when Scott Schoeneweis coughed up slap-hitting rookie Brendan Ryan’s first big-league homer. Valentin provided the next, with Joe Smith pitching and runners on first and third with two out yet again. Juan Encarnacion hit a high chopper and Valentin looked like a return man muffing a punt.

“I did the same thing,” Valentin said. “It was a high chopper. He runs pretty well, two out, it’s a do-and-die situation. You never thought you were going to have some time. I thought it was going to be more a bam-bam play than it ended up being. I thought it was going to be quicker.”